Purdue News

August 29, 2000 Purdue WL enrollment steady, academic quality up WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue University has met its goal of holding undergraduate enrollment steady on its West Lafayette campus while increasing the academic quality of the student body. The Office of the Registrar today (Tuesday, 8/29) announced that total enrollment at the West Lafayette campus is 37,871 students, a difference of 109 students from last fall's enrollment. Undergraduate enrollment increased 64 students to 30,899 while graduate and professional enrollment remained about the same at 6,972 students. Enrollment at all Purdue campuses is estimated at 67,560. Systemwide Purdue enrollment was 66,455 a year ago. "Faced with increasing numbers of applications each year, Purdue last year said it would have to set a limit on the size of its West Lafayette undergraduate student population," said Thomas Robinson, vice president for student services. "With that goal in mind, we carefully managed our numbers and for the first time in Purdue history closed enrollment in late April in all programs and schools for beginning students. "We are very pleased that we've not only managed the enrollment well, making sure that we have the instructional and physical resources to serve these students, but also the academic quality of our student body has increased significantly each of the past four years." Director of Admissions Douglas Christiansen reported that the average SAT score for freshmen at West Lafayette is up 19 points from one year ago, bringing it to 1129. "That is a very significant increase for a single year and part of a trend at Purdue," he said. "A 19-point increase in the admissions business is huge. The caliber of our student body is impressive. This is the best prepared class in Purdue history." Christiansen reported notable increases in other academic measures for the first-year students. Seventy-one percent of new Purdue students were in the top 30 percent of their high school graduating class, a 5 percent increase from last year; 27 percent were among the top 10 percent, a 1 percent increase. The average class rank increased to the 77th percentile, up from the 75th percentile in the fall of 1999. There also are 20 percent more first-time students who were in the top 5 percent of their graduating class and also scored at least 1360 on their SAT, as compared with 1999. Managing enrollment is a collaborative effort at Purdue. "We take a holistic approach to enrollment management," Christiansen said. "That means setting target levels for first-time, regional campus transfer, transfer and returning students and keeping a close eye on graduation rates. We tracked these numbers all year, and have come within less than a third of one percent of our enrollment target on the West Lafayette campus." Additional points of comparison for the West Lafayette campus show: Indiana residents comprise 71 percent of the undergraduate students. There are 3,489 African-American, American Indian, Asian-American and Hispanic students on the West Lafayette campus. They continue to comprise 9 percent of the student population. There are 1,934 international undergraduate students and 2,524 international graduate students. They comprise about 12 percent of the student population. There are 21,874 men and 15,997 women enrolled. Registration at several Purdue campuses is continuing this week. Other campus estimates are: Purdue Calumet -- 9,300, compared with last fall's 9,351. Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne -- 5,830 students in Indiana University programs and about 4,700 students in Purdue programs. A total of 5,990 IU students and 4,565 Purdue students were enrolled at Fort Wayne last fall. Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis -- 3,860, compared with 3,723 last year. Purdue North Central -- 3,460 students, compared with 3,355 a year ago. School of Technology Statewide Delivery System -- 1,800 students, up from 1,691 a year ago. School of Technology classes are taught in Anderson, Columbus, Elkhart, Indianapolis, Kokomo, Lafayette, Muncie, New Albany, Richmond, South Bend and Versailles. West Lafayette extension programs -- 725 students. The undergraduate enrollment breakdown at the West Lafayette campus by school is: Agriculture -- 2,479. Consumer and Family Sciences -- 1,863. Education -- 1,402. Engineering -- 6,233. Liberal Arts -- 5,853. Management -- 2,468. Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences -- 1,594. Science -- 3,058. Technology -- 4,259. Veterinary Medicine -- 124. University Division and Undergraduate Studies, programs for students who have not decided on a major -- 576 and 502 students, respectively. Sources: Douglas Christiansen, (765) 494-1776; dlchristiansen@purdue.edu Thomas Robinson, (765) 494-5776; trobinson@purdue.edu Gary Isom, (765) 494- 5905; geisom@purdue.edu Writer: J. Michael Willis, (765) 494-0371; mwillis@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu Related Web sites: Purdue University: https://www.purdue.edu/ Office of Admissions: https://www.purdue.edu/Admissions/ Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page